Cobalt Glass Refraction — Light Through Blown Glass
79.36 £
Afternoon sunlight passing through a cobalt blue hand-blown glass vessel, the refracted caustic patterns projected onto a white ground as a complex network of electric blue light interference curves.
Description
Glass refraction photography exploits the glass object as an optical element rather than a photographic subject — the vessel becomes a lens system that projects the incoming light onto a receiving surface as refracted caustic patterns. This image was made by positioning a hand-blown cobalt glass vessel in direct afternoon sunlight with a white cartridge paper ground positioned to receive the projected caustics. The result is a web of electric blue light curves, each a refracted image of the solar disc bent through the glass’s varying wall thickness and curved surfaces. Shot from directly above the ground plane at f/8 to resolve the full caustic detail, the image shows the hierarchy of refraction — primary caustics from the main wall thickness, secondary caustics from surface ripples in the blown glass, and tertiary micro-caustics from small inclusions in the glass body.
